Timeless Design: A Competitive Advantage and

Business Strategy

Gabriel Almanzar Gomez, Chokeanand Bussracumpakorn, Phd. School of Architecture and Design, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi,

Thailand

Design is becoming an important tool in today’s business arena. The current environmental situation has inspired different alternatives to tackle the challenges presented by the unsustainable models used during the past hundred years. Designing long lasting products can help reduce this impact and change design business. The base for this research starts with the main hypothesis that products that last longer and have strong relationships with the users can be made through a conscious design process. With the help of case studies, user surveys, user interviews and the existing research on emotional design, durable design and “Cradle-to-Cradle”, this research found some interesting insights and repetitive patterns in the way people perceive and relate to some products. The study findings' gave way to propose strategies based on four main components (philosophy design, quality design, user needs design and experience design) that might be key in the successful development of longer lasting products or “Timeless Designs”. This work suggests some helpful grounds to understand the relationship that exists between users and products. It also explores further possibilities of creating techniques that could help designers and design companies to reduce their environmental impact. This is possible through the use of good design practices. It also might aid researchers and organizations in further developing and/or improving in areas such as economic and industrial policies, user behavior studies, academic design curriculums and environmental solutions amongst others. Keywords: Durable Design, Timeless Design, Design for Environment, Closed Loop Economy, Emotional Design, Design Strategies, Sustainability, Product Development, User-Product Relationship.

Introduction rends have become more powerful in today’s markets, where everything has to be new and fast. Products have no meaningful connection with consumers, resulting in a superficial material-culture that discards products based on trends and fashion.

This consumer mindset has influenced some companies to turn design into a harmful activity that encourages waste and consumerism. It forces designers to create products that people do not relate to that lack any relevant value and that end up in the trash earlier. The huge impact that this behavior has on the environment has awakened a global need to change users' lifestyles.

Many initiatives like “Eco Design”, “Cradle-to-Cradle”, “Carbon Foot Print Management” and “LCA” (Life Cycle Assessment) have gained popularity in the past decades. This study argues about the need to develop new contributions and improvements on sustainable design. Most of the before mentioned tools concentrate in using materials that are less damaging for the environment or on analyzing the whole life cycle of products, in order to optimize materials and energy as well as to reduce harmful practices and/or results.

The study suggests the need for design professionals to respond effectively and creatively to the challenges posed by economic and productive models that have not had substantial changes in over two centuries and will have to advocate for healthier design, intelligent user behavior and mainstream environmental production techniques.

Ideas like mass production of cheap and low quality products, planed obsolescence and the creation of false needs in order to generate demand, continue to be popular practices that have a big negative impact on the environment and user’s habits:

T

Companies profit more when products have a shorter lifespan - because they sell more products that way. The average cell phone lasts only 18 months in North America and maybe 8 months in Japan, Finland, and Norway. (Slade, 2007)1.

In the present study, the starting point was to dig deeper into the topic of durable design and

the relationships between consumers and objects/products in order to find solutions that could foster a change in the way that users relate to products and in the way companies develop them.

In this research, it is essential to show the value of product life extension by means of a user-centered approach. This meant focusing on understanding users’ behavior so designers and/or companies could integrate the result into their design process. Independent designers and/or design-oriented companies could benefit from the findings.

The study intends to help design durable products, which results in economic and environmental implications, such as a shift on the traditional economic model and the reduction of waste and material consumption. This means that corporate and government agencies can also take advantage of such practice.

Meanwhile, a shift to more highly skilled, craft-based production methods and increased repair and maintenance work would provide employment opportunities to offset the effect of reduced demand for new products. (Cooper 2010,14)

Literature Background Timeless design Fashion and trends are major obstacles for product longevity. Massimo Vignelli, architect and designer, said that timeless design could be achieved through training and discipline. He suggested that if a designer wants to make a product that will last in time one has to make sure to distance oneself from trends. If achieved, one will automatically start to be involved in the notion of timelessness.

Product designer Dieter Rams estimated that good design contributes to the notion of timelessness and said that products can never look antiquated (even in today’s throwaway society) when fashion is avoided. He constantly reminds designers of the great role and responsibility they have in the protection of the environment through their practices. He was able to keep up and adapt to technological change without compromising his design vision, like staying away from fashion, trends and novelty. Emotional Design Donald Norman, cognitive scientist, argued that there is a rational side to the phenomenon of connecting emotionally to objects and that it is through three levels of processing in the brain that this takes place. He says that the visceral, behavioral and reflective levels are imperative to produce effective design.

These three very different dimensions are interwoven through any design. It is not possible to have design without all three. (Norman 2005, 6)

He explained the visceral level as the one that helps us make judgment calls, like good or bad, safe or dangerous in other words, the first impression. The behavioral level is the one that

1 McLaren, Carrie. "Are consumer products made to break? An interview with author Giles Slade." Stay Free! Daily. http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2007/04/are_consumer_pr.html (accessed May 6, 2013).

relates to the experience and pleasure of use while the reflective level takes care of the rational and intellectual interpretation of the look, feel and experience given by products.

He claimed that the industry and design today are not thinking about these aspects and that we are giving the decision-making role to the wrong people within the companies.

Products that have into account these components are prone to last longer because they stimulate users and create reactions at intellectual and emotional levels.

Jonathan Chapman, professor at the MA of Sustainable Design program at Brighton University in UK and designer, also used Norman’s theory to support his research on emotionally durable design. He added that the human development of empathy with objects is influenced by their emotional instability and that designers need to understand that unpredictability before attempting to enrich and elongate subject-object engagement

This means that there are factors that go beyond usability, when we talk about enjoyable products.

He claimed that the current design model is not facilitating emotional attachment between users and objects, and as a result, users are becoming simple button pushers.

Circular and Closed Loop Economies

Walter R. Stahel, architect, proposed the closed loop or performance economy approach to industrial processes. He explained that the circular economy focuses on economic and profit maximization, regional job creation and the prevention of CO2 gas emissions.

He also talked about the prolongation of the products’ life by implementing ideas like product life extension (reuse), long life goods (service life extension), reconditioning activities (remarketing) and waste prevention. He stated that, as opposed to raw material extraction and production, these activities along with manufacturing, are more labor intensive and require lower energy consumption, which means that manpower substitutes energy in this model.

Chemist Michael Braungart and architect William McDonough took a deeper look into Stahel’s circular economy with their “Waste=Food” concept from Cradle-to-Cradle. Their idea copies nature, where waste does not exist; instead everything circulates and has a purpose and a value within the ecosystem. They translated this behavior into what they call nutrients for the “Biosphere” and nutrients for the “Technosphere”. The first is where the materials of certain products are 100% natural, allowing them, once discarded, to degrade and become nutrients for the earth, thus creating no waste or pollution. The second one is where the materials of a product go back into the technical cycle at the end of their lifetime. There, they become part of new products of equal or higher quality. They explained the difference between their idea and the general notion of recycling, where materials go back into the “Technosphere” while losing part of their value and properties in the process of breaking them down, making them only suitable for lower quality products. These products usually end up in landfills or incinerators, where they will pollute the air and/or waterways even more than what they initially would have.

In the closed loop model, economic and profit maximization is the main goal, as well as optimizing material usage and eco-efficiency, but as McDonough and Braungart said, this idea just makes the old (destructive) system, less harmful.

To be less bad is to accept things the way they are, to believe that poorly designed, dishonorable, destructive systems are the best humans can do…From our perspective, this is a depressing vision of our species’ role in the world. (Braungart and McDonough, 2009, 67)

Long Lasting Products

Professor on sustainable design and economist, Tim Cooper reviewed the topic from the economic and design aspects. For him, the challenge in product development lies in identifying the replacement reasons and on stimulating longer lasting satisfaction. He followed by asking himself if it was possible to create more flexible products, capable of evolving or adapt to the changing desires of users as well as to new technologies and fashion trends.

He presented five strategies to try and inspire product developers to accomplish this by: designing for reliability and robustness, repair and maintenance, upgradeability, product attachment and variability. In his opinion, achieving product longevity is not limited to these strategies and concluded that product development and design are creative processes and as such there could be more ways to reach those objectives.

His strategies are the result of a workshop conducted in collaboration with a design agency, where they tried to come out with potential ways to elongate the life span of products. The resulting strategies were compared to previous work conducted by industrial engineer Caroline Van Hemel on her thesis about Eco-Design (1998) and the work of Martin Charter and Ursula Tischner (2001) about sustainable solutions. An interesting point in their findings is the common use of concepts such as “classic design” in Van Hemel’s case and “timeless design” in Charter & Tischner’s.

Study Method and Approach

Figure1 shows an initial “Timeless Design” framework summarizing the concepts of the different authors reviewed.

Figure 1: Timeless Design Framework

This framework is focusing on users and their behavior. The study adopts the “Cradle-to-

Cradle” model as shown in Fig.2 and proposes a new layer called “Usersphere” (Fig.3) where users are able to extend their time with products.

Figure 2: Closed Loop Model

Figure 3: Closed Loop Model+Usersphere

In this model, the role of design is to provide better understanding about users and their interaction with the products. It seeks to change the behavior of people and shift it towards using instead of consuming. The study argues that products could last longer in the possession of their owners. For example, products could be passed from one generation to another. The crave of throwing them away, to replace them for newer better looking ones, should be lower and when disposed of (after a longer lifespan), the materials should gently reenter the system.

Case Studies

The selection criteria for my study cases (four on each category) were based on the different theories from the reviewed literature versus products and companies that meet the requirements that these authors consider being consistent with their ideas. So these criteria focus on the users, industry or design depending on the authors’ approach.

User based cases (Chapman / Norman) products focused on developing memories and reach experiences with users in order to create brand recognition and behavioral change (i.e. Brand loyalty and experience of use).

Industry based cases (Braungart & McDonough, Stahel, Cooper, Van Hemel, Charter & Tischner): Products belonging to well-established companies, with special focus in the use of environmental friendly production methods and materials, exaltation of a long tradition and history in the market has set them as top on their fields (benchmarks). This category focuses on the product and manufacture quality.

Design based cases (Vignelli’s and Rams’ Trendlessness) products that are highly functional while their core concept has remained mostly untouched and has only adapted to new technologies, materials and consumption habits. (“Learn through play”: LEGO). This category concentrates on the companies’ design philosophy communication, through their products.

Products considered design icons that have been in the market for over thirty years and recognized as timeless products comprise the list of selected cases. The next step was to do surveys for every product and select the ones with the highest number of respondents (in bold) for further studies as shown in Table.1

Table 1: List of Cases User Based-Products Industry Based-Products Design Based-Products

Mattel Inc. Barbie Meccano Erector Sets *LEGO Group

Building Blocks

Volkswagen AG. Beetle Sigg Classic

Bottle Piaggio &C.s.p.a Vespa

Bodum Inc. “Chambord” French

Coffee Press

*Victorinox AG.

Swiss Army Knife

Leaica Camera

AG.

M-System Photographic

Cameras

*Levi Strauss &

Co.

501 Denim Jeans

Herman Miller Inc.

Eames Lounge Chair & Ottoman

C. Josef Lamy GmbH

LAMY Safari

The objective was to find some patterns in the way these products were conceptualized and

developed. Understanding why these products have lasted in time and have remained relevant for users and companies alike was as important as identifying if the creative process (if it is the case) and the general circumstances (social, political, economic, environmental, etc) had anything to do with their success.

In each case the general circumstances and inspirations around the product were analyzed as well as the concepts and keywords related to it.

Case Study Summary

The following summary (Figures 4-6) shows relevant insights for each of the selected products for the study. Many of the concepts and features are consistent with one or more of the guidelines exposed by the reviewed authors. This leads to believe that successful products and their transcendence in time are not accidental and that if these concepts are clear when applying them in a design process, a product can be timeless.

It also allows to think that if a product can group as many of these ideas as possible, it could achieve that higher durability and long term “cherishability” for which I was searching. This is noticeable when comparing the product insights and concepts with what the users think and perceive from each product.

Figure 4: Swiss Army Knife Insights Source: http://www.victorinox.com/ch/content/history_page.

Figure 5: Levi’s 501 Jeans Insights Source: http://www.levistrauss.com/about/heritage/resources/students-teachers

Figure 6: LEGO Insights Source: http://aboutus.lego.com/en-us/

This research believes that for the products to reach the timeless goal, they have to be able to

communicate and transmit the designers’ and companies’ philosophy through their functionality, quality and the experience given.

The previously mentioned objects have been on the market for so long because these companies have had, as objective to produce and offer quality products that could enrich people’s lives and satisfy concrete needs at various levels.

These companies commit to the ideas of making products that are upgradable, easy to assemble/disassemble, fully recyclable, understandable, intellectually stimulating, repairable, durable, of high quality materials and processes, experience oriented, innovative, affordable, intuitive and user needs-centered. Surveys Gathering information from the literature review and the case studies, was helpful to formulate a set of questions (surveys) that could illustrate the level of attachment users have with to the products and the qualities they perceive from them and the brand.

The questions were: 1. How long have you had the product for? 2. How did you get this product? 3. Why have you kept the product for so long? 4. What is the first word that comes into your mind when the product is mentioned to you? 5. How often do you use the product? 6. Do you use the product for its intended purpose? 7. Would you eventually get rid of the product? 8. Does the product reflect your personality?

9. If you lost the product, would replace it for a better one of the same brand, a similar one of the same brand, a better one of another brand, a similar one of another brand, exactly the same one or none of them?

10. After owning this product would you buy more products of the same brand?

When taking a closer look at the results, it was noticeable that a majority of the respondents talked about the quality and durability of the products as some of the reasons to have kept them for longer. It became clearer that these virtues are the main vehicle to create successful user-object relationships. Once an object demonstrates those traits through time, users do not have to think about anything else but the functionality and experience that it gives them, which enables emotional connection.

The results of the surveys for these products helped identifying the level of understanding and experience users have with the objects as well as their level of devotion to them. They explain how a good product that has given them good experiences at different levels (quality, functional, etc.) does not need to be replaced unless it breaks beyond repairing.

At the same time that durability has allowed them to bond affectively with them and has reinforced the perception and opinion they have about the product and brand. Most of the users put the emotional (that is emotions generated through experience), functional, quality and durability considerations first, as their answer. These factors were identifed as major influencers.

To summarize, the fact that functional products that are durable and of good quality, results in richer experiences, which in return allows users to become attached to them, (the longer they use and enjoy them, the more they expand the object’s life span). On the other hand, if the product does not perform well in any of these areas the users will associate it with a bad experience, thus increasing the possibility of throwing it away or replace it earlier. Designing The Strategies With the help of the results and conclusions drawn so far from the research, it was possible to start looking for alternative or complementary approaches to designing a timeless product. A clear point of view resulting from the literature review, cases, surveys and interviews, shows that the most important aspects to create these products come from two fronts. The first one is the user point of view where functionality, quality and durability are the main vehicles for creating a richer experience and higher product attachment. The second one is the companies’ perspective, where quality, design philosophy, experience offered and the needs of the user are the main drivers for creating that stronger user-object bond.

If the products can incorporate both fronts clearly, the “Usersphere” could easily enter into the closed loop model.

Now a product can be part of the users’ life for longer periods while having the necessary characteristics to make it environmental friendly and more competitive. The stage of extended use contributes to decrease the need of raw materials and energy while increasing a product’s value (economic or emotional) and transforming the user’s behavior. This could be translated in the intention of keeping a product “for ever” or to pass it on to other generations so they can experience and cherish the product, the same way its first user did.

From the design point of view, products have the potential to become recognizable icons thanks to the exceptional qualities they showcase in all of their aspects (experience, materials and design). A designer that is capable of infusing a design with these concrete traits should be considered a particularly valuable asset during the early stages of a product (idea and concept).

From the corporate perspective, designing durable products can help to lower costs, decreasing environmental impacts, stimulating local economies and increasing brand awareness just to state a few examples. The Metadesign Framework The Metadesign framework is a self-defining framework that promotes radical design solutions and changes aimed to solve the most important challenges faced by today’s society while challenging the established paradigms (to redesign design).

It seemed relevant for this research to apply such model since timeless design is a somehow radical way of designing, where the objective is not to sell massive amounts of disposable products, but to sell quality products that instead of being replaced, are enjoyed and cared for so they can be passed on to other generations.

The approach established by “The Meta Designers Open Network” concentrates on looking for relationships between two or more apparently unrelated entities in order to find innovation and paradigm-defying solutions. They are “synergies” which are the resulting diversity that comes from the difference.

For this research, one of the tools used by the network was applied in order to look for synergies between the relevant aspects found, to create a timeless design: “The Tetrahedral2”. In this tool, four aspects connect with each other in order to develop solutions.

In this system, every factor has influence over the others and every change has an effect over the whole system (the way it works on the closed loop + Usersphere model). This allows the creation of design strategies, each one with a different focus since every relation is bi-directional (Fig.7) e.g.: quality-focused strategies aimed to enrich the experience design or experience design focused strategies aimed to enrich the quality (tangible or intangible) of the product.

Figure 7: Tetrahedral for timeless design

2 Wood, John. "Tool-1-Tetrahedral-Logic ." HomePage | Metadesigners Open Network. http://metadesigners.org/tiki/Tool-1-Tetrahedral-Logic (accessed May 6, 2012).

The Strategies For the strategy design stage, was necessary to find connections between the main terms, key stakeholders in each component of the tetrahedral, strategies mentioned by other authors and keywords listed from the case studies. This process led to the development of five strategies for each main component, which later were presented to a group of design companies based in Bangkok. The idea was to get their feedback about the potential of applying such strategies and their thoughts on timeless design and its applicability as a business strategy.

The proposed strategies are: Philosophy Focused Strategies:

1. State the product’s promise clearly and make sure to deliver it (do not offer more that what you designed for).

It is crucial to have a clear idea of what the design team wants to achieve with the product and how it will happen.

2. Be true to your beliefs and never negotiate them. Do not be afraid of turning a client down if he does not share them with you. (Try to convince him/her)

Try to identify how your beliefs (as designer) are going to be reflected throughout your designs and make sure your team knows and understands them.

3. Make sure that your design philosophy is clear in the “moment of truth” of your product.

As part of the main function of your product, imagine the moment when it will be expected to perform at its best. In that moment your design philosophy should be particularly clear to the user.

4. Share a sincere passion with your users. Imprinting your passion (as company and/or as design team member) in your products is the cornerstone for a successful product.

5. Commit to innovate the users’ experience. Try to think always on how to change the experience your products give to the users. This will allow you to come up with more alternatives and different approaches to solve a problem. Quality Focused Strategies:

1. Use production processes and materials that allow products to be easily repaired. Think about simplifying the product at every level in order to make easier the repair and maintenance processes.

2. Responsible craftsmanship (materials and processes) nurtures society and environment alike.

A product that takes advantage of craftsmanship techniques while promoting responsible material management is a vehicle for social and environmental benefit.

3. Post-purchase services (repair, communities, events, etc) help establish a product’s personality.

Creating a whole culture behind your product reinforces the sense of ownership and helps creating user-object engagement. Design quality repair services and guarantees to support your products reliability and to increase the user attachment and brand loyalty.

4. Product life cycles that are empathetic with users, guarantee a hand in hand product/user relationship.

Make sure to assess the life cycle of each component of your design as well as the cycle of the whole system. Make sure that key components will no let down your users in key moments.

5. Bundled performance enhances the experience and creates longer material bonds (interdependencies).

Think about the possibility of creating complementary functionality between products of a same system (e.g.: What if the performance of your blender could be improved by the performance of your refrigerator?).

User Focused Strategies:

1. Look for alternative moments of reflection (experience A/on and experience B/off) Think about creating different states of engagement with the user. What if the product can behave differently while in active use and/or while in idle?

2. “Ageing with grace” as complementary design goal. Use materials that increase their qualities (look and feel) with time and improve the product’s personality and its relationship with the user. E.g.: a baseball glove.

3. Design durability only when needed. Not all products need to last long time. Think about the real necessity of making a long lasting product and plan accordingly.

4. Imagine particular situations to create your product’s personality. Particular user-object interactions can help you shape your product’s personality. Try to design unexpected product behaviors that can positively surprise the user.

5. Stimulate the USE and not the CONSUMPTION of your product. Give the users credit and think of them as intelligent beings. Make your products interesting and intellectually stimulating. Experience Focused Strategies:

1. Design to create behavior adjustments. Have the design team think about different levels of use. What if the product can have appropriate reactions for specific moments?

2. Re-invent the passion. When designing a product, think about possible ways to reinvent the activity for which your creative team is designing. This can give space to the creation of new exiting activities.

3. Curiosity about your product will increase its life. Think about alternatives like giving the product a shape that gives the user a hint of what it might do so he/she is engaged in exploration.

4. Think about a one-page manual. If your product needs to be explained in more than a few quick and simple steps, you are doing something wrong. Review the usability issues as many times as possible during the development process.

5. Showcase your expertise to transmit your products’ quality. If you consider your self an expert in a particular field (e.g.: interface design, tooling, ergonomics, etc) make sure to highlight it in your product and make it obvious to the users. Study Results The results of this research help to better understand and identify the users’ motivations for keeping a product and the grounds that enabled the development of user-object relationships. It was possible to add the idea of “Usersphere” in the closed loop model and confirm that the design strategies have to address all of the components in the system to have a more positive environmental impact, and long lasting results. (Fig. 8)

Figure 8: Strategies in the closed loop model Source: Gabriel Almanzar

The strategies proposed on this document should be implemented as an integral part of the closed loop economy model in order to obtain an optimum result (long lasting eco-effectiveness through design strategies). The model developed by Braungart and McDonough is a widely acclaimed approach to turn businesses into part of ecosystems and not into their predators.

The implementation of such a model might bring additional challenges at the management level that need to be tackled in order to help companies embrace the change and achieve a differentiating value.

At the design level, the main findings were: (1) User motivations’ to keep a product can be replicable from the beginning of a design

process and result in a timeless or better yet, a longer lasting design can be made. It might sound basic, but factors like quality, durability and user needs are fundamental to create a positive user-object experience. If companies give equal attention to all these aspects, there would be fewer products that end up in the trash earlier than expected.

(2) The insights gained from this research, lead to the fact that longer lasting products can be intentionally made and that there are studies in different areas that proof this to be possible. It was clear that there are companies that are fully committed to offering excellent quality products and experiences that assure the loyalty of the users. They have applied and developed various methods and strategies to make sure that those results continue to improve and generate profit.

(3) Design professionals have the power and knowledge to transmit and educate users and clients alike about the dividends that result from eco-responsible and durable design. They should embrace and promote these ideas.

(4) As many authors and design personalities have already said, we cannot continue to ignore the challenges that design is facing today, and we (the designers) have to refuse to be part of the problem. We have to take advantage of the fact that companies are becoming aware of the competitive advantage that design can be for a business.

As earlier mentioned, there are external factors that can hinder the implementation of the model, but there are successful cases and organizations that embrace similar practices. This

should help to make a point and convince other companies, governments and policy makers about the potential benefits of changing directions.

These factors are: (1) Major change has to start from the intervention of higher stakeholders that can truly

influence and push towards a change in the conventional way of doing business. It is crucial to involve the top management and to convince it of taking the risk of perusing a new model. They can contribute directly to protect the environment through their design practices while continuing to be profitable.

The way these strategies can achieve their intended purpose is by rethinking the current use of established business models. A company can concentrate on designing products that last longer, that guarantee a higher level of reliability and performance. Such products can attract and sustain users’ brand loyalty.

The role played by governments and policy makers is significant. Clearly change can come from repressive policies that force (unintelligible) change on people, but designers have the responsibility of reshaping major stakeholders, users and clients by fostering good design practices. This can improve life quality and build awareness of the importance of bringing a balance between industrial development, natural environment and user behavior.

(2) Designing not only quality products but also quality services that improve and create higher brand awareness and satisfaction could improve greatly competitiveness. Companies should believe that by changing the way they work and do business, they could gain a strategic edge that differentiates them in the market.

(3) The change from the conventional model should start at the academic level. It is essential to create a professional design mentality that can start paving the way towards more efficient models.

The academy has to take an active role in the construction of a better future and prepare new design professionals, which are aware of the importance of their role in the success and redesign of today’s businesses.

The external barriers are just one part of the system, and if the involved parties do not address them, it should not mean that implementing the development and production of durable goods at a company is not possible. Conclusions The research revealed great potential in the possible use of these strategies to help companies on the design process. However, the initial perception towards these changes points to the fact that there are some challenges in making them a successful part of the business strategy in a design company.

The main findings of the research are: • “Timeless Design” is replicable, because it is based on giving quality experiences

through quality products. • “Timeless Design” is profitable, because it can expand a company’s business range.

(E.g.: parts manufacturing, repair services etc.) • “Timeless Design” can give a competitive edge, because there is a growing

environmental awareness and need for smarter products that can greatly benefit companies applying this concept.

• Major stakeholders at the management level have to be willing to apply it. • Government and policy makers need support and promote it. • New business models have to be embraced by companies in order to apply “Timeless

Design”. • The academy needs to be involved in teaching it as a way of thinking.

Like Michael Braungart and William McDonough said, it is essential to change the approach

we are taking in the way of making and consuming materials and products. It is critical to be eco-

effective instead of sustainable because the idea is not to slow down the resource depletion but to do things right from the start.

It is way more beneficial for nature and the material culture to make products that last long

and engage users in intellectual and emotional interactions.

REFERENCES

Callan, Scott, and Janet M. Thomas. Environmental economics and management: theory, policy, and applications. Chicago: Irwin, 1996.

Chapman, Jonathan. Emotionally durable design objects, experiences and empathy. London: Earthscan, 2005. Charter, Martin, and Ursula Tischner. Sustainable solutions: developing products and services for the future. Sheffield,

U.K.: Greenleaf Pub., 2001. Cooper, Tim. Longer lasting products: alternatives to the throwaway society. Surrey: Gower, 2010. Forty, Adrian. Objects of desire. New York: Pantheon Books, 1986. Frederick, Christine. Selling Mrs. Consumer,. New York: Business bourse, 1929. Hemel, Caroline Gertrudis van. EcoDesign empirically explored: design for environment in Dutch small and medium-

sized enterprises : proefschrift .... Delft: Technische Universiteit Delft, 1998. Hinte, Ed van. Eternally yours: visions on product endurance. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 1997. Horne, Ralph, and Tim Grant. Life cycle assessment principles, practice, and prospects. Collingwood, Vic.: CSIRO Pub.,

2009. Hoyer, Wayne D., and Deborah J. MacInnis. Consumer behavior. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. The Economist. "Idea: Planned obsolescence ." The Economist - World News, Politics, Economics, Business & Finance.

http://www.economist.com/node/13354332 (accessed May 11, 2011). Leiss, William, and Jackie Botterill. Social communication in advertising: consumption in the mediated marketplace. 3rd

ed. New York: Routledge, 2005. Lovell, Sophie. Dieter Rams: as little design as possible. London: Phaidon, 2011. McDonough, William, and Michael Braungart. Cradle to cradle: remaking the way we make things. New York: North

Point Press, 2002. McLaren, Carrie. "Are consumer products made to break? An interview with author Giles Slade." Stay Free! Daily.

http://blog.stayfreemagazine.org/2007/04/are_consumer_pr.html (accessed May 6, 2013). Norman, Donald A.. "1." Emotional design: why we love (or hate) everyday things. 2005. Reprint, New York: Basic

Books, 2004. 6. Pride, William, and O.C Ferrell. Pride & Ferrell Marketing. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning, 2012. Slade, Giles. Made to break: technology and obsolescence in America. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press,

2006. Wimmer, Wolfgang. ECODESIGN - the competitive advantage. Dordrecht: Springer, 2010. Wood, Jhon. "Metadesign-Introduction | Metadesigners Open Network." HomePage | Metadesigners Open Network.

http://metadesigners.org/tiki/Metadesign-Introduction (accessed October 16, 2012). Wood, John. "Tool-1-Tetrahedral-Logic ." HomePage | Metadesigners Open Network. http://metadesigners.org/tiki/Tool-

1-Tetrahedral-Logic (accessed May 6, 2012).

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Gabriel Almanzar Gomez:

Colombian product designer currently residing in Bangkok, Thailand where he just finished his Masters thesis in the field of Design Management at King Mongkut's University of Technology.

His experience includes work in the areas of furniture design, outdoor sports equipment design and digital advertising project management. During his masters studies he assisted his thesis advisor in the development process of some of his research and product design projects.

"I have practical knowledge about manufacturing materials and processes and now that I have finished my studies, I find very interesting the areas of product and service development as well as strategic planning for design organizations."

Other interests of mine include: sustainability and product innovation.

Chokeanand Bussracumpakorn:

Chair of Graduate Program, Head of Design Management Track, Graduate Program of Design and Planning (International Program), King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok Thailand.